Cumin

Scientific Name: Cuminum cyminum

Biological Background: A seasoning that is the principal ingredient of curry powder, a blend of powdered Indian spices. Cumin is a member of the parsley family and cumin seeds resemble caraway seeds. The aromatic seed has a characteristic strong, slightly bitter taste. Traditionally cumin has been used to flavor cheese, unleavened bread, chili, and tomato sauce.

Nutritional Information: Due to its use as a spice, cumin provides insignificant amount of nutrients.

Pharmacological Activity: Studies have indicated that cumin has strong anticancer activity, which may be due to its phytochemical cuminaldehyde. Cuminaldehyde also has strong antiinflammatory properties. In addition, cumin contains two phytochemicals, cuminyl ester and limonene, which have been shown to stop aflatoxin from binding to DNA to start the cancer process.

Eating Tips: Use cumin to add an earthy flavor to Indian, Middle Eastern, and Mexican cuisines.

Drink Water to Loose Weight?

Did you know that by drinking around 16 ounces (2 eight ounce glasses) of water before breakfast every day could enable you to loose over 6 pounds a year? Nothing else is required.

Drinking water before a meal helps to curb your appetite. In a study with overweight and obese participants at Virginia Tech they found that the subjects that drank 2 glasses of water before their meal ate 75 calories less than those who didn’t drink the water. Some didn’t even realize they had eaten less.

If you add up these calories, 75 calories a day becomes 27,375 calories a year. And, 27,375 calories (3500 calories per pound) comes to just under 8 pounds. This is without dieting…just drinking that extra water. (Think if you drank 2 glasses of water before lunch or dinner instead?)

Why is this considered important? Well, research shows that small behavioral changes that don’t seem to be a big deal can actually translate into different eating behaviors.

Another small change can be to eat on a smaller plate. And leaving the chicken bones on your plate instead of having the waitress remove them is another.
These little tips have all been shown to unconsciously influence how much you eat. And, all take just about zero effort or willpower!

What other little things can you think of to change your eating habits that would be pertinent to your own lifestyle to help you consume fewer calories?

New Thoughts on How to Loose Weight

Hey, are you tired of the ”same old, same old” weight loss methods? I think most of us who are constantly trying to loose weight are now just about immune to the old conventional ways we’ve been instructed in for shedding those excess pounds.

Ready for a change? Well, here are some refreshing new angles on the age-old need to help us loose weight.

WebMD asked diet experts to come up with some lesser-known diet tips that could make the most jaded dieter drop that cookie and vow, “Oh wow! I’ll try that today.”

Here are nine diet tips you may not have heard yet. Some involve different ways to eat, or adding certain foods to your diet. Others involve learning new behaviors or strategies to help you stay on track.

Weight Loss Tip No. 1: Variety Is Overrated

Who hasn’t heard the advice to “just take a bite of everything” if you’re at a buffet?

But as it turns out, variety doesn’t deserve its good reputation, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, a Chicago dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

“We know that variety makes you eat more,” she says, citing several published studies and her own experience in counseling weight loss patients.

For example, researchers in France found that study participants ate more french fries when they were offered catsup and mayonnaise along with them. And when they were given the option of having cream or whipped cream with their brownies, they ate more than when the brownies were offered plain.
Other researchers have found that people who have been able to maintain weight loss tend to eat diets with limited variety.

Weight Loss Tip No. 2: Have Barley for Breakfast

“Barley is the new oatmeal,” says Jackson Blatner.

Barley got its hunger-fighting reputation after Swedish researchers found that eating barley or rye kernels for breakfast kept blood sugar on an even keel. That’s because the carbs in barley and rye kernels are “low glycemic index,” meaning they raise blood sugar more slowly than some other carbohydrate foods. This helps you avoid a spike, and then a drop, in blood sugar, which can leave you feeling famished.

One caveat: “Buy hulled barely, not pearl barley,” Jackson Blatner says. The Swedish researchers used minimally processed hull barley, and they can’t vouch for the same effects for more processed forms, such as pearl barley.

Weight Loss Tip No. 3: Beef Up Your Lunch Salad

One of the most common mistakes dieters make is to eat a vegetable salad with little or no dressing for lunch, says Joan Salge Blake, RD, professor of nutrition at Boston University and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “Then they are starving by mid-afternoon,” she says.

A salad is a great choice, she says, if you add some protein and a little fat to help keep you feeling full longer.

Top your greens with a 3 oz piece of chicken breast, and you’ve added about 26 grams of protein but just 140 calories. Add about two tablespoons of light salad dressing, and your salad may be filling enough to get you through the 3 p.m. hunger slump without hitting the vending machine.

Weight Loss Tip No. 4: Stock Up on Frozen Vegetables

Sure, fresh vegetables are delicious and nutritious. But faced with the need to scrape a carrot, wash and slice a zucchini, or cut broccoli into florets, many of us say, “Too much trouble!” and reach for chips instead.

To make things easier, stock your freezer with frozen vegetables, Blake tells dieters.

“They are already clean, chopped and ready to cook in the microwave,” she says. “It’s like having Rachael Ray in the freezer.”

An even better way to be sure you eat more vegetables: Cook the frozen veggies ahead of time. Microwave the whole bag of green beans, for instance. Then keep them in the refrigerator, ready to dump into canned soups, add to a salad, or just eat by the handful.

Weight Loss Tip No. 5: Make Yourself a Party Tray

The type of party tray Jackson Blatner is talking about is a big vegetable platter, maybe with some low-fat dip on the site — the kind you put on the buffet for weight-conscious guests.

But this one is just for you and any interested family members. Keep it in the fridge at eye level, encouraging you to snack healthy and avoid the higher-calorie contents of your refrigerator.

Several studies have found that we tend to eat more when food is within easy reach. Secretaries who placed candy on their desks ate about 48% more than when the candy was 6 feet away, according to research by Brian Wansink, PhD, director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University.

Weight Loss Tip No. 6: Turn Down the Thermostat

Spending time in a chilly house — about 61 degrees Fahrenheit — may boost the fat-burning power of the “brown fat” in your body.

Brown fat is considered “good” fat, as opposed to regular or white fat, which stores calories and tends to accumulate. Researchers believe that lean people have more of the brown type of fat, and that the amount of brown fat a person has declines with age.

Scandinavian researchers found that exposure to these chilly temperatures boosted the metabolic rate of brown fat 15-fold, helping burn more calories.
But Jackson Blatner cautions not to expect too much: “It’s not going to be any kind of a miracle,” she says. And beware if you’re the type who eats more when you feel cold.

Weight Loss Tip No. 7: Downsize Your Dinnerware

Experts say they’ve seen it again and again: The larger your plate, the more you’re likely to put on it. So serving your meals on smaller plates can help you eat less.

But don’t throw out those dinner plates, Blake suggests. Use the smaller, lunch-size plates to serve dinner, and use the dinner plates for salads.

Weight Loss Tip No. 8: Go Out for Treats

If you’re the type who overdoes it on sweets and snacks, Jackson Blatner suggests, make yourself work a little for your favorite indulgences. Don’t keep them in the house, but give yourself permission to go out and get them when you really need to.

Want a brownie? You have to go to the bakery. Craving a frozen yogurt? You must find the nearest frozen yogurt shop.

“The more hassle tasty treats are, the less likely you are to eat them,” says Jackson Blatner, who does this herself and finds her sweets consumption has declined without making her feel deprived.

Weight Loss Tip No. 9: Try on Your Skinny Jeans Every Friday

Find a pair of pants that is tight, but not impossible to zip, Blake suggests to her weight loss patients. “Every Friday morning, try them on,” she says.

Why Friday? Weekends are typically a tougher time to stay on diets, she says. And the Friday morning try-on will motivate you to watch your eating during the weekend.

“If they are loose, you will say to yourself ‘I am making progress, I am staying on track during the weekend,”’ she says.

And if they’re snug? That will provide motivation to stick to your diet so they’ll fit better next week, she says.

EAT Vegetables!

It is well known that the more vegetables you include in your diet, the less susceptible you are to practically every major disease.

Why? Because vegetables are rich in antioxidants and nutrients which are thought to prevent sickness and disease coming to our cells and they also promote healthy cell growth.

Vegetables need to be the centerpiece of our diets. Their amazing nutritional power gives us great health and helps our body cells rejuvenate themselves. It’s been suggested that we eat mostly vegetables, less meat, fish or poultry and some whole grains for better health.

Vegetables, by themselves are naturally low in fat and calories and we need to lay off the cream sauces, margarine, or dips to keep them that way,

Still a veggie skeptic? I hope to convert you with these strategies to help you harness their amazing nutritional power:

Here are some strategies from tennis pro, Martina Navratilova to help you get the most out of your vegetables.

1-Set a goal for the number of veggie servings you will eat daily. Start gradually at the lower range of two servings a day, or try to eat at least one fresh vegetable a day.

2-Go green. The greener the leaf, or the veggie, the more anti-aging compounds it contains. So aim to enjoy one mixed salad a day.

3-Color your plate. Colorful veggies are proven fighters of aging, cancer, and heart disease, because they contain a boatload of nutrients. Try to include several servings of yellow, red, orange, and purple vegetables in your meals each week.

4-Drink your veggies. Juicing is the easiest way to “eat your veggies.” As I do, try to have at least one tall glass of fresh juice daily. If you do not have a juicer, stock organic vegetable juices, and mix them up.

5-Do not fear starchy vegetables. Instead, charge-up your batteries with healthy carbs. Include the following in your weekly diet: corn, potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes, and yams.

6-Season your foods with chopped garlic or onion. They may make your breath lousy for awhile, but these foods are packed with flavor and health-building, disease-fighting phytochemicals.

7-Try a new vegetable every week. Step out of your comfort zone, try a new veggie, and experiment with how to cook it. Did you know, for example, that you can substitute spaghetti squash or julienned zucchini for pasta and never know the difference?

8-Set a veggie goal. You might, for example, aim to include at least two vegetables with lunch and dinner. Then step it up: Double your portion of vegetables at lunch or dinner.

9-Eat vegetables raw whenever possible. Generally, raw produce is healthier. In one interesting study, blood levels of vitamins A and E rose significantly in people who ate raw fruits and vegetables for just one week. One exception to the “raw rule”: When cooked, carrots yield more nutrients.

10-Cook veggies for the shortest amount of time possible. Short-term microwaving, steaming, stir-frying, grilling, and other such quick-cooking methods preserve the greatest amount of nutrients. By contrast, prolonged exposure to heat, water, and air destroys vitamins in vegetables.

11-Veg-up your favorite foods. Sneak veggies into soups and stews. If you love pizza, order one topped with vegetables.

Veggies are probably the best fuel you can put in your body, when you get right down to it. Try a few of my suggestions, and your body will thank you for it.